Iraq nuclear looters leave trail of anguish

June 2 2003

US officials are recovering barrels looted from Iraq's nuclear agency, buying back containers that may be radioactive from people who were washing clothes and storing food in them.

Angry local residents said their children had fallen ill after wearing clothes washed in barrels once used to store processed uranium at the Iraqi Nuclear Energy Agency and which may still have had traces of radioactive material.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors will arrive this week to investigate how much radioactive material was lost when looters raided the agency's compound after US-led forces toppled president Saddam Hussein last month.

The looters made off with the barrels, dumping the so-called "yellow cake" uranium inside a waste disposal facility at the sprawling complex south of Baghdad and selling them to unsuspecting residents of the nearby Madaen district for $US2 ($3.07) each.

Residents said US forces had bought back the barrels for $US3 a few days ago.");document.write("

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"We recovered 100 barrels, but we do not know how many more are out there," said Lieutenant-Colonel Brent Bredehoft, head of the US task force searching for the looted material.

"Yellow cake radiation is not big, but coming in contact with the heavy metal will harm you," he told Reuters at the waste disposal complex.

He said he hoped to get a better idea of the number of barrels from IAEA inspectors, who left Iraq just before the US-led invasion began on March 20.

A research centre possibly containing radioactive isotopes was also looted, he said, as Iraqi workers sealed windows of the waste disposal building and secured the fence.

Iraqi and US experts scoured the site with radiation detectors on Saturday.

"Radiation levels in the surrounding area were normal. US soldiers would not be standing here if there was danger," said Jamal Akram al-Kubeissi of the Iraqi Nuclear Energy Agency.

But Madaen residents spoke of a mysterious illnesses in the district, where medical facilities are basic.

Three-month-old Fouad Salman had lumps on his head and scars resembling burns on his back, which his mother said developed after he wore clothes washed in one of the looted blue barrels.

"The barrel looked clean when I used it," the mother said, cradling her infant. "US forces promised to come back with doctors but they have not done so."

Muhsen Aboud, a resident organising community protests over the alleged contamination, told Reuters some families had used the barrels to store pickles.

"The effects of contamination do not show immediately. A qualified medical team must come here," Aboud said.

US forces took the compound nearly two months ago. Looters were still dismantling bricks from one building on Saturday and stealing concrete columns holding up the outer fence.